April 2026 Conchshell Chronicles
A Successful Season
The Rio Coco Cafe Utila Team: Daisy, Jake, Hannah, Laura, Daniel, Kethy, Craig & Michael
Our Winter/Spring Season for the Rio Coco Café on Utila comes to a close this month. Our visas have expired, and the team must leave Honduras to renew them for another 90 days. We have decided to be closed for the month of May and return the first week in June.
Our team is dispersing for these weeks- Daniel is going to an intensive Spanish language school in Guatemala after visiting family; Jake is traveling with his family to Uruguay to visit his sister. Hannah is going to Egypt to work with a missionary team there, and Daisy is giving art classes in Vero Beach.
How do we measure our success in the mission to reach out to the international community there? Did we serve the best coffee on the island? Were our baked good the most delicious? Were our quiches, avocado-egg toast and other menu items the most nutritious as well as delicious?
I think if we took a survey, we could say a definite “YES!”
But here is the real measure of our success which was sent to me a few minutes ago by our team leader Jake:
“Last night I was having a conversation at the pub with Andres, a loyal customer who comes in everyday to get a cortado. He is always raving about our coffee, but yesterday he shared something much more meaningful. He started our conversation by asking
‘Do the owners of Rio Coco have any idea how much of an impact they have on this island?
Seriously, people love you guys. I don’t know what we’re going to do now that you’re closed. Everyone over at Utila Dive Center loves Rio Coco because it’s the perfect spot to come study and hang out. It feels like its own little place away from Utila. And the thing that makes it so great is you guys.
Sure the coffee is the best and the views are great, but you guys are all so thoughtful and you ask questions and care about your customers and it really makes such a difference.
I really don’t know what we’re going to do without you.’ ”
In 2008, we got orders from The Holy Spirit to open a coffee store on Utila. We spent the next three years coming to Utila for a month to see how we could do that. In 2011 we rented a small two bedroom house on cement pillars and built a café below the home, plus a small dock and opened in August that year.
In 2016 we turned our back porch into a kitchen and added two bedrooms and a bathroom on top. Later we added a kitchen on the third floor, and this past year we built an adjoining apartment to house our team. Many of you have contributed to all these improvements. Thanks!!!
Since we opened in 2011, we have had over 30 different people serve on our ministry team. Our family has spent months there every year (minus covid) since.
It’s been a big investment of time and other resources and often I ask myself and my Lord, “Are we making a difference?”
Am I, our family and our team the kind of people that your neighbors would say something like “I don’t agree with their faith but we would all be at a loss if they were not part of our community. They give so much it would be hard to replace them”.
I think Andres gave us the answer.
Thanks for all you who have been praying and supporting us during the past 15 years. We are seeing some definite fruit. We have made significant friendships this year that we know God will use for His purposes.
In May we will add a solar power system to the café as electricity cost is about four times what we pay in Florida (41 cents a kilowatt hour versus 9 cents in Florida). The upfront cost is $20,000 but it will pay for itself in less than three years and will essentially run our five refrigerators, water heater, espresso machine and air conditioners at no cost during the day and most of the evening.
Pray that God will send us many missionaries over these next years. We like them to come for 1-2 years, but will welcome others who are trained for less. And...please consider coming for a visit and help us work the crowd at the cafe . Michael
Our Rio Coco Cafe Staff and Friends at our 5K run fundraiser in Vero Beach on April 28.
Lamb Bleatings
Through The Door
I decided EASTER and CHRISTMAS are my favorite holidays and they are both worth celebrating EVERYDAY and WAKING MOMENT OF MY LIFE as long as I am here on Planet Earth. I decided this a longtime ago when I realized that Jesus Christ was no ordinary guy. He was God in the flesh who came to earth to sacrifice Himself for mankind and allow His favored creation (us) to choose a relationship with Him for all eternity.
Easter Sunrise Service, Humiston Park Vero Beach Florida
God is Love and designed us to love and be loved and enjoyed. Love does not force, or brag or consider who is doing it more or less. Love is as love does. Love is the embodiment of all goodness, truth, order and rightness to perfection in every way. Love is the same yesterday, today and forever. Love waits with patience and kindness for each one of us to decide to know His reality and live in conjunction and a revelational relationship with The Creator of the sunrise and sunset and all of the world and people He made.
We are designed to get to know God, love Him and each other and then leave to go back to Him in the great beyond: HEAVEN: another beautiful dimension. There is a HELL and where there is another self-proclaiming god who is evil and tries rules this world we live in. He is here to kill, steal and destroy everything that God has created for himself to love and enjoy.
God is the lover of our souls. He beckons us to believe and be with him in a relationship which lives on into eternity .
The evil one also beckons us and bombards us moment by moment to win us to hell. The War is real. There is a battle taking place to own us.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life . John 3:16
I have been trying to listen to the still small voice of God in the quiet while I stretch and be silent before him. I have also become more vigilant in the constancy of my moments to get direction, a word, a thought, and perspective from God. The awesomeness of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
I had the privilege the other day to see one of my friends leave this life and go to the next in a very peaceful moment of prayer and my expression of love I had for her. Theresa was one of my clients and she became a dear friend of mine once we started doing “art” together with her hair.
We had some magical moments creating and enjoying ourselves and through our time I got to know her and her family and become a part of their lives. Whenever her family members came into town, she wanted all of them to have the same experience of loving and creating together these masterpieces with their hair. So fun and filling for us all! We all recognized God and His gifts being given in the midst of us and always had much to share in our faith .
On Tuesday, I was running my usual errands and was about to go to a store, but I asked Jesus what He thought I should do. I felt like he said , “Go see Theresa. It’s right around the corner “. Theresa was not doing well because she broke her pelvis the week prior, developed pneumonia, and had other complications which caused her to just want to have hospice care and leave as soon as possible to be with Jesus.
When I walked in, she was already moved to a bed. During my last visit she was on the recliner, talking and in great pain and letting us know she was trying to find “path” to leave and go be with the Lord.
This time she was sleeping with labored breathing with no words left …. I read to her something I had written for her as I held her hand with her daughter, Chrissie.We told her she could let go and go be with Jesus and that he was waiting for her and would definitely tell her, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
As we spoke to her, I was holding her hand as her breathing was slower and slower until that moment when her breathing stopped. The picture was clear for us as she left peacefully and God received her on the other side into her eternal presence with Him. No more suffering, no more tears and no more wandering in uncertainty or stress …. Just pure Love and total freedom - Home at last with no more evil able to touch her; Only the beautiful hands of the Lord and Savior who is always there waiting for us to come to Him so we can be free and comforted.
Jesus says: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
This is true for today and forever. He will carry our burdens and give us rest if we receive Him as our Lord, in this life as well as in the next. God is there, He knows our situation and He cares. He is the only One that can do everything about anything in perfect detail, wonder and brilliance. Laura
Walchensee, Bavaria Sunrise 2001
How Can You Help This Month?
1) Help us with the funds for the solar panels on Utila.
2) Support one of our Seek The Lamb missionaries;
3) Help us repair the Waspam office roof.
Our Latest Podcast
Lukas Bagby grew up in Honduras, Nicaragua, Hawaii, Israel, Florida, as well as places in Europe.
How did this lifestyle affect his world view as an adult?
Rio Coco Beans Coffee
We just received our first bag of a delicious organic Mexican Chiapas coffee. We had this last year until the supply ended, and now the new harvest is in.
Nutty Chocolate, Caremel, Sweet, Smooth body.
Order Viva Chiapas!
Join Our Coffee Club and save 15% off all orders.
Leave a comment
Please note, comments must be approved before they are published